


Fiançailles

by myhamsterisademon



Category: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 09:37:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14871296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myhamsterisademon/pseuds/myhamsterisademon
Summary: Henry cocked his head to the right, watching the boy standing in the middle of the portico, a ray of sun lightening his blonde curls to yet another variation of golden – and suddenly the lad moved, drifting through the room towards Henry, bringing the sun and the light and the warmth of a summer day with him.





	Fiançailles

“You are in love with her,” Lord Henry simply said, slouching in Dorian’s armchair and sipping fresh white wine, the beads of condensation glistening on his long, elegant fingers. It was a summer day, from the garden over there came the heavy perfume of lavender and the sunlit parlour seemed a whole new world – with its glittering lights, its scattered precious trinkets, its bright coloured flowers, its flittering dust and its gold-and-cream coloured furniture.

“I am,” Dorian answered from the balcony, turning his head towards Lord Henry and opening his huge blue eyes in wonder. “Harry, I –” he hesitated for merely a second, bowed his head and then raised it again – “Harry, I do love her! With my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole being!” He blushed, his cheeks tainted in the loveliest shade of red, and his eyes twinkled.

Henry cocked his head to the right, watching the boy standing in the middle of the portico, a ray of sun lightening his blonde curls to yet another variation of golden – and suddenly the lad moved, drifting through the room towards Henry, bringing the sun and the light and the warmth of a summer day with him.

“Oh, Harry,” he said, once he was before him, “Harry, how I love her!”

Lord Wotton smiled, in his enigmatic yet sweet and melancholy way, and he said:

“Indeed. You are in love with her, and you shall marry her. I congratulate you, my dear boy. I wish you to be as happy as your wealth and position will make her.”

“I wish you did not talk of her like that,” the lad murmured. “She loves me, I know. She is young and innocent, and she does not think of money; not in that way, at any rate.”

“She shan’t be young and innocent forever.”

“Neither will I, and yet I feel that she will love me forever!” Dorian quipped back, in unusual passion, and Henry tilted his head, curiously observing the lad’s newest mood. It was not often that the boy got into such outbursts, and Henry had always feared they would spoil his beauty – he knew what anger could do to a lovely face, mar it and twist it in the most uncouth grimaces – but, unsurprisingly, Dorian was breathtakingly handsome even when an outraged fire glowed in his eyes and, in those times, the lad almost seemed enticingly, sensually dangerous.  

Dorian’s irritation didn’t last long; and his expression softened in one of warm, somewhat indulgent exasperation.

“But I do not want to quarrel with you, Harry,” he said and he lifted his eyes and looked at the older man, nibbling his lower lip; a question lingering on the tip of his tongue.

He kneeled besides Henry, gracious like he could always be, effortlessly so, and, in boyish affection, he smiled up to him.

“You are not cross with me, Harry, are you?” he asked, fondly. “You shall not be jealous of my Sybil?”

“Cross with you, Dorian?” Henry cried. “Why on earth would I ever be, my dear boy? I feel no jealousy whatsoever for Miss Sybil Vane,” he said, and it was entirely true.

“I am  _glad_ , Harry,” the lad cried, smiling sweetly and bringing his hand to rest on Henry’s thigh. “I truly am. I could not bear the persons I love the most in this world to dislike each other.”

Lord Henry smiled.

“Well then,” he said, getting up, while Dorian’s eyes followed each of his movements, “we had better be going. Will you be a good boy and dine with me?”

“Of course!” the lad cried, as if such a question were not in doubt, and he sprang to his feet, the light of the fading summer afternoon catching into his hair.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the original Tumblr post [here](https://doriangraysuggests.tumblr.com/post/174569376664/submitted-by-myhamsterisademon-tbh-this)!


End file.
